Posts Tagged facebook

After facing a barrage of criticism in the past for its ambiguous and faulty privacy settings, social networking giant Facebook has finally come up with some changes that could go down well with the users. Certain changes have been made to the existing privacy settings, while some new features have also been brought in; so that users can customize the set of people they want their posts to reach out to. The new settings will come into implementation for all new accounts that are created on Facebook. For the existing users, the new privacy settings will be rolled out over a period of time.

Following are the latest additions to Facebook privacy settings.

Up until now, any new user who joined Facebook had all of his or her posts set to public. This meant that any new photos or status updates posted by the user could be seen by anyone who had a Facebook account. In order to allow people to be more selective when it comes to whom they share their posts with, Facebook has now changed the default settings to ‘friends’. Any posts made by a new Facebook user would now only reach out to his or her friends, unless some changes are made to the settings. This is a huge relief for users who are wary of sharing their updates with anyone and everyone on Facebook.

For their first post, the new users will be greeted with a reminder on whether they want to set their audience to public or to friends. If no choice is made by the user, settings automatically go to ‘friends’.

That was the story for new users. Coming down to existing users who have been part of the Facebook network from the past, the company has decided to expand its existing ‘privacy check-up’ tool. This tool allows users to see their current privacy settings. If they are inclined to make any changes to it, they can always do that through the pop-up that appears on the screen.

There is good news for Facebook mobile users as well. The social networking giant has made changes to privacy settings for its mobile application as well. Users can now share status updates with the groups that they intend to; this will become more transparent a process now as the user can see exactly who is going to see those updates. This will be visible on the top-left corner of the screen.

The new privacy settings are definitely going to make users feel more comfortable and secure as they go about posting updates and pictures from their lives on Facebook.

Social networking giant Facebook has never been the one to rest on past laurels. New features and improvements are a frequent part of the offerings on the website. Among the latest addition to the Facebook stable is a new feature called ‘friends nearby feature’.

What is “Friends Nearby Feature”:

This feature works by letting you know how far away you are from your friends in a particular location. This information can be shared for a limited period of time, but will definitely allow people to spend more time with one another in the ‘real’ world than they do ‘online’.

The ‘friends nearby feature’ was developed by an app team that Facebook acquired in the year 2012. The feature displays a list of nearby friends on all Facebook applications that work on IOS or Android systems. Moreover, if one of your friends has shared his exact location on Facebook and is very close to where you are, it will also display a map for the same.

The development of this new feature is primarily aimed at answering critics who believe that the social networking giant is isolating people from one another in the real world. By sharing the nearby locations, people can actually meet up with their friends for a hangout or dinner, thus validating Facebook’s basic premise which is to connect people.

Though certain privacy issues float around this feature, if people can manage those effectively, then there is bound to be room for plenty of meetings and hangouts with those who are close to them. For this, the Facebook apps on Android and IOS systems allow you to turn on the feature for a specific group of friends or everybody on your friend list. The choice is entirely yours.

Once you have decided on the list, the next step is to tap the ‘location’ icon next to the name of your friend. This will allow you to share your exact location with them. You can also key in a 40-character message stating what you are doing or that you intend to catch up.

If your friend is also using this feature, you can expect a response and hence plan your meeting. The feature also allows you the option of deciding on how much time you want to share your location with your friends.

What sets this latest offering from Facebook apart from others in the market is that it is based on broadcast proximity than location. This implies that you can share how close you are to someone without sharing the exact details. The feature will work through GPS on your mobile device and can be a great way to get back in touch with the people who matter in your life.

Social networking giant, Facebook has acquired WhatsApp, a leading cross platform messaging company. The deal value of acquisition is pegged at $16 billion and payment would be made $4 billion in cash and $12 billion in shares of Facebook. Another $3 billion in RSUs will be granted to WhatsApp founders and their employees. The deal also includes $2 billion (One billion in cash and rest in shares) in case it gets shelved due to failure in obtaining necessary regulatory approvals.

As Facebook and WhatsApp work on the same principal of connecting individuals, it is suggested that the partnership would mutually benefit both parties. The remarkable success of WhatsApp of being the maximum used messenger service across the world is believed to increase the reach of Facebook in the longer run. As for Facebook’s benefit to WhatsApp, the former’s resources and history of being the most successful social networking site, will lead to the expansion of WhatsApp across the world. In the meanwhile, WhatsApp will continue to charge $1 after the initial free period of one year as it is currently doing.

It is estimated that the messaging volume on WhatsApp is almost equal to that of the combined telecom text messages across the globe. The messaging application adds to its count a whooping 1 million new members every day. Current statistics as per Facebook’s Blog are that over 450 million users use WhatsApp every month and out of those 70% are active daily.

WhatsApp, with its lean team of 32 engineers processes more than 50 Billion messages every day. To begin with, WhatsApp founders’ strategy was to provide ads-free messenger service that is fast, reliable and cheap. There are many messenger services but, WhatsApp supersedes them with advanced technology that facilitates deliverance of messages at lightning speed.

Though not on the cards yet, with WhatsApp in Facebook’s going for a merger, we can expect to see even better integration of messaging services with the social networking platform.

Throughout the world, millions of people use the social media. Facebook alone has 500 Million plus users registered with them. Apart from staying in touch with family and friends, social networks are also very much helpful in advertizing your business. Earlier online advertizements were only limited to ads on popular search engines and prominent niche websites whereas now days social networks are extensively used to sell out products and services. Facebook Advertizements, promotions through niche groups, generation of fan pages and twitter promotions are some of the few things that we can easily witness. With the help of social media, many businesses have made their position in the industry. Social networks have opened up a number of prospects for the individuals as well as for business endeavors.

If you want to establish your brand, social networking can be a magnificent tool for you. We all are aware of benefits of having a popular brand for business. Consumers are always likely to recall a reputed brand name and in the present scenario, social networks can be the most effective medium to build a popular business. Web sites like Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Linkedln and FriendFeed have proved their efficiency to build up fame for popular businesses. If you are running a website or a blog, the effect of social media promotions would multiply in form of sales for your web business. As we are aware of demographics of users on the social networks, we can target the promotional campaigns effectively with no wastage of resources on untargeted consumers.

For new businesses, social networks can be a boon. For a very low cost they can penetrate deep into their preferred customer set. With various applications like Facebook Apps you can engage users in multiple activities and promote your business. When it comes to ad formats, image ads and video ads can be an effective tool for brand building campaigns as they are more appealing.

With number of users increasing exponentially, it would be irreverent on the part of the businesses not to make use of this opportunity. If you have not yet started making efforts to take advantage of this facade, you must do it right away.

To carefully plan your social networking campaigns, contact us at Centex Technologies.

If you have chosen to promote your business through facebook, there are a variety of methods that you can follow. Facebook is a great platform to spread information about your business and acquire a fan following. It goes a long way in ensuring that your business remains memorable in the minds of the consumers and your advertizing message does not fade into oblivion among the large number of businesses that advertize online.

The following methods should be kept in mind when promoting through social media like facebook:

If you have created a facebook page, your job just does not end with filling in descriptive details about your company. The most important thing is to remain active and update your status regularly while posting relevant details about new things related to your business that are likely to be of interest to readers.

You must adopt an interactive strategy and always be willing to respond to queries, doubts and suggestions irrespective of whether they are positive or negative. Your page should be used to create a bridge between your company and your consumers.

You can create unique applications and fun games that centre on your brand and advertizing strategy and display them on your page. This helps create a friendly rapport with your customers who are likely to keep coming back to your page for more such interesting activities.

There should be a comprehensive description that provides detailed information about your business and the products or ideas that you intend to sell. A history of your business can also be written and your achievements in your field can be showcased to help win the trust of potential customers and build an effective market standing.

You can use facebook groups to generate useful discussions regarding your business and also use it as a means to gain feedback from your customers. Facebook groups help keep communication channels open with your customers and also create excitement about your business as your products become discussed about online.

Apart from the above, you can also put up pay per click advertizements on facebook while paying them a nominal amount of fee in exchange.

Without doubt, facebook is a great way of promoting business. We at Centex Technologies create effective marketing plans for our clients. To know more how we can spearhead your marketing campaign, feel free to contact us at 254-213-4740.

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Abdul Subhani

I am the President & CEO of
Centex Technologies Microsoft Small Business Specialist, Certified E-Commerce Consultant, Certified Ethical Hacker, Certified Fraud Examiner, Virtual Instructor and an IT Consultant/Speaker on IT Security, Networking, Small Business Architect, & SEO Internet Marketing.

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